Articles Search

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, July 31, 2008) – Nauru’s foreign minister, Dr Kieren Keke, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith which governs Australia’s development assistance to Nauru.

In the 2008-09 financial year, Australia will provide up to 27 million US dollars in Official Development Assistance to Nauru.

The assistance supports health, education, economic and financial management and public sector capacity-building, including policing assistance.

Australia says this represents the government’s commitment to help Nauru restore essential infrastructure and services and to improve economic self-sufficiency.

The deal also takes into account the closure in March of Australia’s Offshore Processing Centre on Nauru set up in 2001.

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, July 31, 2008) – Alternative energy and green building practices were some of the issues on the agenda Wednesday in the second round of talks this week with local officials and the Joint Guam Program Office as they begin evaluating the environmental impact of a pending military buildup in the region.

Established by the Department of Defense to address military plans on Guam, the JGPO is now gearing up for the relocation of an estimated 8,000 U.S. service personnel and their 9,000 family members from Okinawa, Japan, to the island. The move will require the construction of port infrastructure for naval ships and scores of new projects to support military operations and personnel, according to a JGPO report on the plan.

The pending buildup could give Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) a major economic boost, yet with that comes a host...

HAGATNA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, July 31, 2008) – With power rates set for another increase in coming months, island businesses are feeling the pinch.

The Guam Power Authority petitioned the Public Utilities Commission for a Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause increase of 2.19 cents per kilowatt-hour. This would increase the charge from 17.04 cents per kilowatt-hour to 19.23 cents per kilowatt-hour.

According to Consolidated Commission on Utilities Chairman Simon Sanchez, residents can expect around $20 added to an average 1,000 kilowatt-hour consumption rate.

James Howard, T.G.I. Friday's general manager, said he noticed a significant drop in the number of local patrons. He cited rising costs as the reason behind the number of local customers decreasing. He said the cost of food -- also tied to oil-related costs -- is higher, causing service industry closures nationwide.

The order of magnitude study will assist BCL to work out how much will be needed to re-open the mine in the event that profitable mining is allowed to return to Panguna.

Company secretary Paul Coleman advised the Australian Stock Exchange this week that BCL had undertaken an order of magnitude study to re-develop the mine that was forced to close in 1989 following an uprising.

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, July 31, 2008) – Concerns have been raised about a big ministerial delegation on an official trip to Sarawak, Malaysia, this week led by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.

Government officials and non-government organisations questioned what a high-powered, 25-member party was doing there when it was only to seal a Wewak-Sarawak sister-city relationship.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, during the dinner hosted to welcome the PNG delegation, Sir Michael urged investors from Sarawak, which already has a presence in Papua New Guinea’s timber industry, to explore investment potentials in PNG, which enjoyed a...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, July 31, 2008) – The Supreme Court in Samoa has sentenced the former auditor of the Customs office in the Ministry of Revenue, Pepe Tevaga, to nine months in jail.

The former auditor and assistant CEO of the Customs finance service had pleaded guilty in June to one count of theft as a servant involving more than 3,000 US dollars of public funds.

15 other charges against her were withdrawn by the police after a plea bargain with the Attorney General.

In sentencing the accused, the Chief justice, Patu Falefatu Sapolu, says it’s a concern for the court that a person with such a high level of education who also held very senior positions in the government as a civil servant committed such a crime.

The Chief Justice says he has taken into account several mitigating factors such as her being a first offender and her assisting thepolice in another...

As Nick Henry reports, it was a big challenge coming in due to very big seas:

We dropped sails and came in under motor power. To get in we had seven of us steering! It was very tricky. Once we got through the main passage, two very big tug boats came out to meet us and we had one on each side and they completely lit up our vaka with their powerful lights. We continued in with them blasting their fog horns so everybody knew we had arrived. Many local paddlers came out in canoes, some with 16 in each canoe, they were yelling and cheering! With the strong cross wind, we had a bit of difficulty coming in, our first attempt was no good and we had to push off and try again.

APIA, Samoa (Samoa Observer, July 30, 2008) – Anyone who leaks information to the "newspaper" should no longer be part of a government board.

So threatened the Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Safuneitu’uga Pa’aga Neri, to members of the Audit Committee of the Samoa Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), in a letter obtained by the Samoa Observer.

Dated 24 June 2008, the letter in Samoan, addressed to the Chairman of the Audit Committee, Muliagatele Alfred Hunt and Committee members, expressed the Minister’s disappointment over the leakage of an Audit report, which revealed an unexplained loss of $1,011,542 at SBC, for the year ended 30 June 2007.

The loss led to a "special investigation" conducted by the Audit Office into "special areas of SBC" in April 2008, on a request from Safuneitu’uga.

The Audit report was published in full in the Sunday Samoan of 22 June 2008.

NUKUALOFA, Tonga (Matangi Tonga, July 31, 2008) – A tupakapakanava, or traditional torch lighting ceremony, was held along the Nuku'alofa foreshore yesterday evening after sunset when students lit bark torches creating a line of fire around the coastline and rings of fire around the small islets visible from the capital.

The ceremony is a traditional honour accorded to the Royal Family and followed the installation of Tonga's King Tupou V yesterday.

Another Tupakapakanava will be held on Friday August 1 the day of the King's coronation in the church.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.